The present invention pertains to a device for transferring blister packs from a stamping station to a conveying means.
Blister packs are often used in the pharmaceutical industry for the packaging of medications. First a plurality of pockets is formed in a web of plastic sheet material, and then products such as sugar-coated pills or tablets are introduced into the pockets. Finally, the web of plastic sheet material with the filled pockets is sealed by a cover sheet and sent to a stamping station, where the individual blister packs are stamped out of the web of plastic sheet material.
In a subsequent phase of the packaging process, the stamped-out blister packs are transferred to a conveying means by means of a transfer device. The blister packs are set down in stacks in individual compartments of the conveying means. Then the stacks arranged on the conveying means are sent to a packaging station, where the stacks of blister packs are introduced into appropriate packages such as folding boxes. The time which the transfer device requires to move the blister packs from the stamping station to the conveying means logically has an effect on the throughput of the packaging machine as a whole.
In a known transfer device according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,498 B2, the web of sheet material with the filled and sealed pockets is sent vertically to a stamping station. The blister packs, which are stamped out while still in a vertical position, are then picked up by a suction arm of the transfer device, transferred to the opposite side of the transfer device, and placed on a conveying means located further below, but this time with the blister packs in a horizontal position.